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Krishna of My Conception

The Teaching of the Gita ~ Neither Fiction Nor History written by Mohandas K. Gandhi

Non-violence in the Gita

Krishna failed to do nothing He wished to do, so says the author of the Mahabharata. He was omnipotent. It is futile to drag Krishna from His heights. If He has to be judged as a mere mortal, I fear He will fare badly and will have to take a back seat. Mahabharata is neither fiction nor history commonly so-called. It is the historic of the human soul in which God, as Krishna, is the chief actor. There are many things in that poem that my poor understanding cannot fathom. There are in it many things which are obvious interpolations. It is not a treasure chest. It is a mine which needs to be explored, which needs to be dug deep and from which diamonds have to be extracted after removing much foreign matter. Therefore, I would urge my friends to keep their feet firm on Mother Earth and not scale the Himalayan heights to which the poet took Arjuna and his other heroes. Anyway, I must respectfully refuse even to attempt the ascent. The plains of Hindustan are good enough for me.

—Young India : May 21, 1928

History of Man

Many of us make the very serious mistake of taking literally what is accepted as scriptures, forgetting that the letter killeth and the spirit giveth life. The Mahabharata and the Puranas are neither history nor simple religious maxims. They appear to me to be wonderfully designed to illustrate the religious history of man in a variety of ways. The heroes described therein are all imperfect mortals, even as we are — the difference being one of degree only. Their alleged actions are not infallible guides for us. The Mahabharata sums up its teachings by declaring emphatically that Truth outweighs everything else on earth.

—Young India : December 15, 1927